When it comes to cosmetics, “relevance” is critical. Brand owners need to be able to pinpoint the singular attributes and features that
will differentiate a product in consumers’
minds and entice them to buy. But global
beauty markets are not interchangeable.
Product attributes such as fragrance or color
that work in Brussels may not resonate in
Beijing. This means that reaching lucrative
high-density markets, such as India or
China, requires much more than simply a
solid distribution strategy. Rather, global
success will be determined by how adept
companies are at transferring the product
innovation that defines their brands to
new markets while taking into account the
unique requirements of specific geographies
and cultures.

Doing this requires that organizations
find better and faster ways to tap into
the vast resources that exist within their
R&D knowledge base, which may include
everything from formulation recipes and
data from past experiments to supplier
information, consumer preference models
and production history. There are three
ways that beauty brand owners can
empower regional product development
sites to succeed in emerging markets.

Streamline LocalDecision-making

What shampoo attributes are most
important to Chinese consumers? Which
sunscreen ingredients and tints most
closely match the skin tone range for
women in Mumbai?

To quickly establish a foothold in a new
location, beauty companies must be able to
cost-effectively adapt proven formulations
to meet the demographic needs and
preferences of their target consumers.
There are other market-specific issues that
are important too—including political,
regulatory and supply chain considerations.
For example, an organization might need
to compare the prices offered by flavorant,
odorant or active substance suppliers
within a specific geographic region, or
understand a particular government’s
regulatory policies on active ingredients.

This requires local knowledge and local
expertise that is not readily or rapidly
available within a centralized R&D
headquarters far removed from the culture

There’s no need to re-create the wheel with expensive experiments or tests that have already been done for other product launches, for example, as long as the knowledge gained through previous work is applicable to the new market strategy. But new advances in service-oriented architecture and collaborative technologies
are changing this. A web services-based
IT foundation for scientific information
management can support the integration
of multiple sources of R&D information
in a “plug and play” environment,
unlocking and integrating data previously
marooned within disciplinary, system,
application and format silos. Through
this shared knowledge base, organizations
can empower their regional sites with
the information they need to get up and
running in new markets both quickly and
cost-effectively.

Consider the example of a company
working to introduce a sunscreen formula
originally developed for European
consumers to Asian markets. There are
a number of variables that need to be
considered.

First, there’s the original formulation.

How did it test under different temperatureand environment of the target market. Thus,regional product development sites must begiven the analysis tools (and the autonomy)they need to make these locally relevantdecisions. At the same time, organizationsmust also be careful not to overburdenlocal teams with R&D tasks that can bemore cost-effectively handled by existingresources or that require many years oftechnological development to learn.

There’s no need to re-create the wheel
with expensive experiments or tests that
have already been done for other product
launches, for example, as long as the
knowledge gained through previous work
is applicable to the new market strategy.
To take advantage of these existing
“information assets,” however, regional
development sites need an easy way
to both access and use R&D data,
regardless of where it originated, or
how it is formatted or stored.

Build a SharedKnowledge Base

Most cosmetic development does
not start from scratch. Development
teams begin with a product
“chassis”—a basic shampoo or skin
cream formulation, for example—and
then add in unique attributes such as
antiaging or pH balance, or herbal or
natural ingredients that might appeal to
consumers. For regional development sites,
the chassis provides a head start for gaining
a foothold in the target market and then can
be extended with locally sourced additives.

This approach enables organizations to save
time and money since they only need to
focus on locally relevant R&D.

To build on existing product innovation,
however, developers need to be able to
access, integrate and leverage all the research
knowledge that has already been generated
by the wider organization. But this can be
a formidable undertaking, considering the
massive amounts of data typically involved.